who's tougher--sprinters or distance runners?

who's tougher--sprinters or distance runners? serious question. i'd say disttance runners by a longshot. both mentally and physically.

Mentally its a no brainer....distance runners are way tougher than sprinters. In sprinting, I don't care how hard you have to run, or how much pain you feel, its all over in a few seconds. That doesn't take as much toughness as fighting through it for minutes or hours.

Physically its a toss up. I'm sure some sprinters are tougher and some distance runners are tougher.

I would say neither is necessarily tougher, if a sprinter and a distance runner are both trying as hard as they can to get better/perform to the best of their abilities, how can one be tougher?

Distance is the way wrote:

Mentally its a no brainer....distance runners are way tougher than sprinters. In sprinting, I don't care how hard you have to run, or how much pain you feel, its all over in a few seconds. That doesn't take as much toughness as fighting through it for minutes or hours.

Physically its a toss up. I'm sure some sprinters are tougher and some distance runners are tougher.

shows you what a misconception you have about sprints, and probably field events.

these events require massive concentration, granted for short periods of time. the focus is intense - and the destruction of muscles severe. "fighting through the pain" as distance runners go requires a different skill set than sprinting.

think of it this way - its like taking two different tests - one like an SAT, where you have hours to work on a lot of questions (distance running). or that final exam that seems to pop up every once in a while in a physics or a math class that has only one question - that you've got to consider every angle (sprinting).

it is a different kind of mental toughness, but i would be willing to bet that guys like carl lewis were just as mentally tough as gebressalassie.

Sprinters have to endure a lot more than just the races and actual running. Some of the drills and lifting they go through make you pretty damn tough.

I'll take "Ways you can tell that Dyestat is down" for $200.

I agree that sprinting is tougher than people think. It is really hard to push your body TO THE ABSOLUTE LIMIT OF SPEED. I would estimate at least 95% of people think they are sprinting when really they are only going at 90%, there is an extra gear that you can only hold for a few seconds that sprinters know how to find and most people don't. Having to focus on pushing so incredibly hard for 10 seconds or whatever in a 100m is tougher than it looks.

Of course, I still think distance runners are tougher, by a good bit. Sprinting just isn't the "joke" that a lot of distance runners would have you believe.

No brainer. Have you ever watched sprinters train. 5 minutes of drills and 3 hours of lollygagging in the high jump pit. Repeat.

As for racing, please, can 10-40 seconds compare to 2 hours plus on the edge.

Do you remember Uta Pippig one year, she had diarreah and her period in the same race and still won. (Of course then she took drugs ;-(

Also, many sprint races that I have seen, they don't even run the full 100 meters, they are too busy posturing or getting ready to take off their singlets.

Steve Jones and Joan Beoit were tougher then any sprinters.

I agree. I tried to do some 200ms a couple weeks ago. I did 3 of them full out with full recovery and I ran 30.2, 30.7 and 30.2. My best 200m is 24.5 and even now I'm fairly certain I could at least run 28 but it's been so long since I've done some real sprinting that I just can't dig down to get that extra gear.

I actually think it's a toss up in terms of mental toughness / tenacity b/w throwers and distance runners. They have just as difficult training regimines as we do, albeit it's in the weightroom rather than on the running trails

Middle Distance

i will ponder the question of who is tougher next winter when it is sub zero out and im doing a long run

KevinM wrote:

I'll take "Ways you can tell that Dyestat is down" for $200.

Right again, KevinM. You take the board...

Obviously you can argue about this all you want. I think the real question is who bitches about it more?

Distance runners generally wuss out by moving up in distance to compete where the competition is less fierce. I know I moved up because it was eaier to win in the mile than in the 100.

having been both I can say that distance running is infinitely tougher. Not even in question.

As some who has much more experience in sprinting than in distance running, I would still have to say that distance runners are tougher.

You do have to be mentally tough in the sprints on race day for sure. When it's all over in 10 - 50 seconds, depending on the race, you have got to be wired. But distance runners have to be mentally tough in a different way, knowing that they will have to race for several minutes to a couple of hours. Physically, I think distance runners are much tougher. Endurance is tougher than sprinting. I felt alot of pain in the 400m races, but for crying out loud the race was over in less than a minute. And the pain only lasted about 20 seconds.

The original question is "who's tougher--sprinters or distance runners?" not "who trains harder?".

I had no idea that Dyestat was down because I don't visit there. Apparently you do though.